Kiwi fisherman gets a surprise when a shark jumps out of the water

A rookie fisherman has captured the moment a large mako shark leaped from the water, after becoming hooked on a line.

Andrew Baker was fishing with friends at the Hen and Chicken Islands near Whangarei at the weekend, when a 2.5 metre shark started circling the boat.

"It was just cruising around, doing its own thing, then it grabbed the bait and took off," he told Newshub.

"We think it was trying to get the hook out of its mouth when it was jumping up and down, putting a display on."

He says he's never seen anything like it before - in fact, only an hour before the shark leaped out of the water, he was telling a friend he hadn't seen a shark up close before. It hasn't scared him off going back to the water.

"We'll go out this weekend - the weather's looking good, we'll go back out there and see if we can get a few more snapper," he says.